4/30 Rachel McKibbens Exercise #4

Ingredients:

1.    Something that could be used for digging (but is not meant for) digging.

2.     A person you had almost completely forgotten about, until now.

3.     A routine chore

4.     The person, place or thing nobody warned you about.

1.     seashell

2.     Melanie (1^st best friend)

3.     washing dishes

4.     time

~~~

     While digging/scraping/carving/mining/piercing/slitting(#1), whatever, find the forgotten person(#2)inside. Discover how all that he/she does is the one chore(#3) all day long. And beautifully. Why? 

Discover the one thing they could have warned you about(#4), had you remembered them. Don't fiddle too much with details, instead, write how you live your life differently, now that you remember this person. Now that you know they knew what you didn't know, until now. Oh, and make sure you only find them once. Also, make sure you continue to try to find them again, but never do.

~~~

Girl was seashell beach digging when Girl found her,

sand castle moat scraping

on the way to China next to the lake bed.

Girl had forgotten,

but as soon as she puffed up that breath-ful of sand,

Girl began the remembering.

She was little, with bright eyes

and soft hair and a quiet voice

that said a lot of big things.

Girl hadn’t seen her for a while.

Girl wondered where she’d gone away

so Girl started asking her questions:

Where did you come from?

Does the sand scratch your eyes?

What do you remember?

Was it cold there?

She replied:

memory and yesterday

not when I blink them real fast

only the answers

sand is warm and held me tight

Girl wanted to know so much more:

Do you have a mother?

What is the biggest number you know?

Want to play?

She answered:

everyone came from someone

I don’t think I’ve counted it yet

yes, please

So, Girl played with her all afternoon

they played with the seashells and the bright plastic buckets

and made shapes and mounds and piles

once all the sand had been wiggled around

and the shade was quieting their ratatat hearts

they sat squat at the lapping waves and washed the dishes

she was good at cleaning the buckets,

going out deep enough to avoid the sandy water,

kicked up from all their play

she swirled each basin slow to unstick the stuck bits

Girl watched careful,

Girl had never seen anyone watch dishes with such care before.

Girl’s mother would probably like her.

Just like that, Girl heard her family call

turned from the shore to see where the sound was from.

Girl looked back at her

but all Girl saw was a clean stack of seashells and bright plastic buckets

she was nowhere to be seen,

the day was done and time had passed

and Girl only had more questions:

Where does the time go?

Are you happy?

Where did you learn to wash dishes?

3/30 Rachel McKibbens Exercise #3

I did not do a good job following today's exercise, but it helped to get me writing, which is really the point. Exercises can be found at: rachelmckibbens.blogspot.ca

Ingredients:

11.    Something you or someone you know (or made up) has never let go of.

22.    A massive “thing” (could be an animal, something mechanical, whatever, just BIG)

33.    A comfortable place

Write a poem or story about something someone has yet to let go of. You do not have to name it. But as the poem or story progresses, allow the thing to become bigger until it physically becomes something massive that the person carried with them. What changes has this person made to accommodate this thing? What damage has it done, if any? What does it enable the person to do? What do others think of it? Where does the person take this thing for some peace and quiet?

~~~

11.     Dad remarrying

22.     sail boat

33.     the porch with the whicker chair

 ~~~

The wind hit her face, sharp and hopeful

reminding her about time and how seasons change

she could feel it in the wind

that time was passing slow and regular

but that September was here.

she grabbed a pebble to remember the summer and left

The sun skipped soft over shoulders and necks

it was a sunburn day

everyone would assume that they didn’t need sunscreen

and everyone would have a weird t-shit line on their neck for the whole season-

May.

she grabbed a pebble to remember the spring and left

the crisp crack of crunching frozen puddles

ice pile paradise

rubber boots useless since the air is too cold for melting

the ground looked like shattered mirrors

like bad luck and glitter

she grabbed a pebble to remember the winter and left

each pebble

dropped in the jar

weighing each quarter-time out sensible

she could see it

see the time,

how it ballooned all over everything

out of control it just kept going and going

piling more pebbles

until she’d built a harbor.

the smaller pebbles leading out into the water

bigger pieces of time sunk and weighty

tide teasing back and forth-

counting sevens

she watched the boats she’d built with time

saw them bob and sway,

tethered and changing

she sat in a whicker chair on a porch that was probably very old

it had to be old to have seen so many pebbles.

it had to be old to have seen so much time drift viscous before her.

2/30 Rachel McKibbens Exercise #2

Again, I'm using a prompt by Rachel McKibbens. Her exercises can be found at rachelmckibbens.blogspot.ca (bold writing is her instructions)

Okay, to build this poem, first you need the following ingredients:

11.    a physical feature or talent (either one can be made up)

22.    an ability, spectacular or boring, it’s up to you

33.    an object used for presentation (i.e. a platter, a cake stand, a velvet box, a pedestal…)

44.    an obsolete or close-to-obsolete profession (i.e. blacksmith, milk maid, rider for the pony express)

~~~

11.     that nose with that bump on it

22.     spreadsheet queen

33.     jewelry box from mom

44.     mail person

Write a poem about the physical feature/talent (#1) and make sure it is more marvel than brag, as if the thing is not truly part of you. As if it is a nuisance. What hardships do you endure for carrying this thing? What easy chore is made hard because ofit? What can it do that no one else’s can (#2)? Decide who passed it down to you. What was the profession of the person you inherited it from (#4)? How was it presented (#3)? What amazing thing might you become because of this?

~~~

it started small,

as all of them seem to do

never stops growing

because of the cartilage and the like

it’s a prominent piece, but not in the wide way,

more the narrow, bump in the middle kind,

like my cousins

the center of a frame.

it gets in the way-

at least it did when she was 2,

bumping it hard into the glass coffee table,

they told her later it had broken then.

parents thought she’d just whacked it real good-

she didn’t complain so they didn’t take her in.

that bump changing it’s insides to twisted maze,

now she’s spritzes sprays up into it twice daily

cover the left nostril with your finger,

insert nozzle into right nostril,

angle outward and spritz while inhaling fully.

repeat on other side

sinusitis

when she scrubs her face,

exfoliating easy, it gets in the way,

never leaving her alone or backing down

it just sits there.

makes her work around it.

but, it’s stubborn persistence makes a mean spreadsheet

each row and column an independent artist’s dream

it makes tax season seem exciting-

every line and receipt accounted for.

This nose owns Excel.

I got my nose from a man who carried letters back and forth

between boxes and homes

before the internet

when paper was everything

and screens were what kept the mosquitos out

there aren’t many like him anymore,

carting the lopsided canvas bags on tired shoulders

under that smart, weather compatible postal gear

he gave me this nose inside a jewelry box,

it was wrapped up all special

and when I opened the lid

the familiar humming song that my mother sang

bounced back at me

the sound rang up and around and through

my nose,

through the maze of internal caverns

cartilage pretty

I told him that I quite liked the shape,

it was so small and quiet back then-

hadn’t been out through the ringing terror that has been my face

it was safer before I opened that jewelry box

but I’ve made good use of it.

It’s served me well

even if it gets in the way.